The Ottawa Senators could have finished off the New York Rangers on Monday in fairytale fashion, the East’s No. 8 seed toppling No. 1.

But the Rangers fought back from a 1-0 deficit to score three second-period goals, two on the power-play, then hung on to defeat their hosts 3-2 and send the quarterfinal to a seventh and deciding game Thursday back at Madison Square Garden.

• In Chicago, Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith made 39 saves to blank the Blackhawks 4-0 – on Chicago netminding legend Tony Esposito’s 69th birthday, no less – and eliminate the Blackhawks in six games.

160 Comments

John McManus .It looks like News is leaking out that the Phoenix Coyotes have been sold to a fool by Gary Bettman killing the dream of the return of the NHL to Quebec.My suggestion is to start up a new Pro NHL level league with cities like Quebec,Hamilton,Mississuaga,Kitchener,Halifax,Moncton,Regina,Sakatoon,to start with.Bettman has it deeply carved ito his brain that no more NHL teams will happen in Canada.

our goal is to make the playoffs no matter who comes in the picture in Montreal. IMO we are a long way off from winning a cup lot of teams are pretty good right now and for most such as Philly will only get better. we have a lot of catching up to do. no doubt someday we’ll have a stanley cup contender can’t see it any time soon….hope they put the right people in place to build a great team.

My best wishes go out to our hometown boy, Corey Crawford, for putting up the good fight. With the right officiating, they might have had a chance. But poor Corey is still a goalie coach away from going beyond the first round.

After having resisted jumping on the `Who is the next GM?`band wagon, I want to express my point of view. Is the GM not the team leader? Is he not placed in this position to get the most out of his organization?. I have always thought his job was to ensure the best possible people are in place to do their jobs. It is NOT his responsibility alone to pick the next player (3rd or last choice). It is a team decission. The head of scouting has an input, head of player developement has input, coach has input, etc etc etc. The GM`s job to to take in all the available information weight it, and come up with a plan. I want our next GM to be that guy. I don`t care if he is a he or a she, speaks french, english or russian. It tall or short, lives in Montreal or Bathurst NB. I don`t care. Give me a inteligent, calm, passionate about hockey, leader, who will get the best out of everyone in the organization, from Players down to the guy that sell hotdogs…Is that too much to ask?

Ah, yet another logical point. BTW – it is NOT to much to ask as you ended your post with, but is it too much to expect? I think one thing is for sure, and there will be a lot of strong hockey people involved with this team going forward, and there will have to be some egos checked at the door. Molson won’t give the keys to any single individual. Just my opinion.

I won’t here ask anyone to change their politics, but I would ask that they conduct the debate in a fair and respectful manner.

So, it seems unfair to allow the Team Party movement to be defined (a.) by its sworn enemies, (b.) in purely partisan and polemical terms, and (c.) in terms their opponents fears and extremisms

Also, the Tea Party is uniquely (and legitimately) American: the American state was founded on the overthrow of a big-government power, who imposed large taxation, and exercised autocfratic government control from a central location. A ‘tea party’ as it was then called (and an excellent derisory re-appropriation and reversal of a cultural activity that was , first, associated closely with the authoritarian high-taxing remote central authority, and, second, antithetical to the culture of the rawer colonials.)

So, whatever is happpening in Alberta should be placed and explained in a uniquely Canadian context, without the unfortunate (and, considering the immature antipahthy to America so common in Canada, paradoxical) habit many Canadians seem to have of immediately and reflexively reaching to America, like children copying their elders, for terms and concepts to explain themselves.

Ok. How about they are Alberta’s right-wing nutters? They are the balance to Quebec’s NDP, or Quebec’s Left-wing nutters.
In the center, there is the broad Trans-Canada Highway of Common Sense (and lord knows they are filled with enough chipmunks and squirrels to devour the nutters).
Why do I have a hankering for some cashews?

I’m sorry for making you type that long, boring drivel. I was merely repeating what I heard in the media and from friends in Alberta about the nut job party called ‘the wildrose’ party. Notice I asked if they were the “equivalent to” the tea party. I didn’t proclaim them to be them.

Maybe you should stick to defending Cherry.

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“Bring it on home, Bring it on home to you…” – Plant/Page

Damn right. His bad call giving Toews an interference penalty last night got Phoenix their first goal. Then the 5 min PP sealed it. I think the hit from behind had a little debate to it. Looked like he got him in the shoulder first which turned him into the glass. I’m not a Chi fan but his dumb calls influenced theat game and therefore the series and could influence some guys’ jobs in the future

Never thought I’d say this but I miss Bruce Hood. This has been the most pathetinc playoff season not only for the on-ice officiating, but for the NHL in general. It started with the bizarre non-call on Weber and went straight downhill from there.

This has me concerned. This is a guy who hits on around one of every six selections he makes and 60% of his selections have been from Europe. This is not a condemnation of European players because as those of you who know me are aware, I have no reservations about drafting players from Europe and don’t buy into the garbage stereotypes they’re labelled with.

But focusing over half of your draft on an area where you no longer have a leg up isn’t a bright strategy in my opinion.

Edit: We don’t have a Nicklas Lidstrom and won’t have one. We can’t set up an organizational model that allows us to say pay Carey Price more than anyone else and then every other acquisition or homegrown player must take less than Price if they want to be a Hab. It’s worked for Detroit. But it’s worked for them because Lidstrom is among the top 3 defensemen to ever play the game and his presence more than anything drew free agents to that team.

They definitely wanted him as a candidate, but to assume that that the job was his is a logical leap that I feel is not supported by his comments. Nial was at the top of almost every list of potential candidates since the position was vacated, and he’s been mentioned for several high-profile candidacies prior to this, so of course they would be interested. And being the guy in charge of the most-storied hockey franchise in history has got to be the pinnacle of a hockey manager’s career, so of course he would be interested. But the vetting process for a senior management position can take three or four interviews before a decision is made (Introductory interview to see if he is interested, interview by headhunter to determine qualifications, interview by peers to see how candidate would fit into the organization (optional), interview by executive to confirm qualifications). So to my mind, two talks by interested parties does not equate a fete accompli. To my point of view, you are jumping to a conclusion not supported by the facts

Agreeing to an interview is acknowledgement of interest in the position and requesting the interview is acknowledgement of a desire to interview the candidate based on their already well known qualifications.

You’ve added two interviews to the process based on mutual interest which is completely false and a waste of time.

I think it’s more reasonable to conclude mutual interest and a desire for a candidate to take your vacancy based on public acknowledgement of interest after two interviews and a reason for not taking the job than it is to suggest that two additional interviews were required for a headhunter and to determine interest.

The interviews themselves verify mutual interest.

If the Habs weren’t interested, they wouldn’t have requested permission to interview and if Nill wasn’t interested he wouldn’t have accepted the interview.

You’re making far too much of the process in my opinion. While it might be a bit presumptuous to conclude that the job was Nill’s if he wanted it. It’s ignorant to assume that two interviews were done only to gauge interest.

Three of the draft classes from 2004-2006 (3 of 22 picks) are still with the Canadiens. One of six sounds pretty good. I think the attraction of any possible choice likely boils down to “Does their organization win or lose.” If you use that logic several popular media and fan favorites are not even under consideration.

I hear you. That would be like having an American owner and focusing on USHL players in the draft while taking on an overpaid Alaska boy to lead the way home. Drafting or trading with an agenda other than the best possible player probably isn’t a good thing.

That would make the real, and I guess only, question: Are the owner and Serge Savard looking for the best possible GM and coaches or will this just be another 19 years of foolishness?

I can’t really remember so many missed calls, non-calls and just plain wrong calls on the ice. With the Habs out it’s now possible to watch games far more objectively, and it’s ludicrous the officiating going on, and it’s effecting the outcome of games. This postseason is quickly becoming one the NHL may be glad to see come to an end. Phoenix Florida final anyone?

I just saw on TSN that Nill was given permission and spoke with the Canadiens organization. Unfortunately the article was about how he’s staying with the Red Wings as it wasn’t the right time for him, due to familial reasons, to become a GM.

Yeah a guy with an average to below average draft record working in an organization where the owner negotiates the contracts and the free agents who sign there are essentially already committed to the team is just one you don’t want to slip away

Vincent Damphousse said a similar thing when he withdrew his name. I think it may have had something to do with the fact the Habs never called him, and never would. I wasnt’ convinced about Nill, and think it will come down to Brisebois or McGuire. Please God, not Roy!!!

My two favourite moments of that video are:
– Ken Lineseman’s comedy glasses
– Patrick Roy, with towel still around neck (obviously didn’t start the game) plowing past everyone in his full equipment to get down the hallway past the Bruins’ bench to the thick of the action.

I’ve watched the replay a few times just now and it appears that Neil didn’t kick the puck in the net last night. He made the motion with his foot but seemed to miss the puck which then crossed the line on it’s own momentum.

Regardless, this is the type of guy that Montreal needs to find. Neil and Carkner bring good value for what they do both in terms of being able to play a regular shift and come in at a reasonable cap hit. These are the UFAs we need to chase going forward.

Boyle, Prust, Rupp and Sauer do the same for the Rangers (when healthy).

Two high end picks in the next two years plus Beaulieu gets us up to 16.

This year’s 33rd pick plus another late 1st rounder in 2013 (via trade deadline move) could be added to Tinordi and Gallagher. If two of those four turn out, then we may just have the turnaround that we all desire.

I don’t see it as being a pipedream. All that is required is some patience and smart drafting.

The last thing this team needs is a new GM who comes in and tries to make a big splash. Steady as she goes.

Seems every team still playing has a tough element with either players that stand out or an overall system that stresses it. Something the habs sorely lacked, and have been for a while. The blueprint is so clear to most people, why haven’t the Habs figured it out yet?

Zenon Konopka is useless…he is only taking (and winning) every single D-zone face off in this series….Habs had way too many guys like him on our team this year – getting him would have been a huge mistake…

How do you guys get away with posting that to no argument, and whenever I mention Big Z and his uselessness, I have eighteen people jumping down my throat professing their desire to have his lovechildren?!

He’s a good faceoff man and fighter but they only gave him something like 400 faceoff opportunities in the regular season so using stupid math that figures about five per game of which he won just under three per game.

That’s not a valuable player in my opinion but hey, maybe he’s dynamite in the locker room.

Actually seeing as he only played 55 games that would be 7 faceoffs per game and he won an average of 4 per game. He also brings grit to the lineup and can drop the gloves, he led the sens with 19 major penalties this season. Compare that to our 4th line center for most of the season Nokeleinen who took 309 faceoffs in 56 games which comes out to an average of 5.5 per game and won an average of 2.9 per game. He only had 3 major penalties all season and is not a physical presence. Konopka is not a savior by any means but he is a better 4th line center option than we’ve had in years. He consistently wins close to 60 % of his faceoffs and plays with a mean streak, not sure how that is useless.

Agreed it isn’t a major increase but the point is he is a reliable faceoff man. Teams have used 4th line centers who are great in the faceoff circle to win important draws on the powerplay and penalty kill or in dying seconds of a game when you need to score or prevent a goal. Sure he only averaged a hit per game this season but he had 110 hits in 82 last year and 109 in 74 the year before that. Not to mention he had 265 and 307 PIM in those season which consisted mostly of fighting majors. He consistently fights around 20 times a year. Sounds like a physical presence to me

I checked the NHL.COM site and if there was a 6th game between Vancouver and La it would have been played today.

So if I heard correctly and all the players and management of the Vancouver team will be attending a press conference today as a ‘meet the people’ wrap-up.

All except Alain Vigneault. According to the President this ‘does not mean anything’ cause Vigneault had a previous appointment today.

Well sorry I am not buying it. I cannot believe that Vigneault would have previously scheduled to be away from the rink today… a possible game-day. Unless it was an ‘emergency’ doctor’s appointment.

I have read between the lines and I think that Vigneault is unavailable because he is meeting with Canadiens reps in person or by phone.

Well you say Canadiens dont have a GM yet. I suspect they do have a GM and he is in on the ‘meeting’. I think we should be getting an announcement any day now.. one the first round ends. I think they want to make a big splash announcement where both the new GM and coach are present and the full organizational chart has been decided.

And then again I may be all wrong. But is fun speculating… well fun for me anyways.

I agree there is something fishy. I mainly think that it is because he is about to get the axe or he wants to quit. There is no way that team should be out already and he has done a good job there but after awhile you need some new blood in there and it starts with the coach.

I am not sure he will be with Montreal but it might be a possible destination

As long as we’re speculating, I agree that the Habs already have a GM. His name is Serge Savard. And the reason you’re seeing names pull out of consideration, is that anyone who takes this job is going to have to understand that they’ll be part of a team that makes decisions. I’m definitely starting to think Brisebois might be the right fit for that type of structure. And I wouldnt’ be surprised at all if Vigneault is let go. The Canucks have essentially underachieved in the playoffs for years, and someone has to pay.

I’ve never really paid much attention to the fans at Scotiabank Place until Boone made mention of them in his lead-in to last night’s liveblog, and he was right – what a completely lifeless, emotionally uninspired collection of borderline-cadavers! Anyone who subscribes to the “7th man” theory where the home crowd gives their team an advantage would have to agree that Sens fans almost bear some responsibility for the Ottawa loss. I mean, it’s game 6 and your team has the chance to knock the conference champions out in the first round, and to me it sounded more like the denizens of the Kanata arena were settling in to watch an exhibition game – between the Toronto Raptors and the Charlotte Bobcats!

The problem in Ottawa remains the same that it has been since that franchise returned in the early 1990’s. They are fighting a three front war: they must attract fans to their team through their play while also trying to convert young fans away from the Montreal Canadiens and, to a lesser extent, the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose fan base is busy indoctrinating their children into cheering for the same team that they do.

I grew up on the edge of the Ottawa Valley. I spent a LOT of time in Ottawa as a kid. Most of my friends grew up Habs fans in the 1980’s and none of us have shifted our allegiance. Go to any Senators game against the Leafs and the Habs and you will see that the opposition fans outnumber the Senators fans.

Throw in that the rink is in an absolutely stupid place (hard to have any sort of atmosphere in a commuter rink) and you’ve got the Senators.

And if you think government jobs are high-security, you might want to read the newspapers a bit more. I do not work directly in the civil service, but most of my friends do. All of them are on pins and needles right now. One office has been told that 2 of the 7 people are definitely losing their jobs. Another office has seen about half of its staff let go.

The government and civil service jobs typically lag a recession by 2-3 years due to roll-out of infrastructure money, but they do tend to get hit hard as well. The mid-1990’s were very hard on the civil service, and it is difficult to find qualified and competent people for senior management right now because of the bloodshed that occurred at that time period. There is a severe shortage of people in their mid 40’s to 50’s in the civil service right now.

We’re seeing the same cycle right now. Universities, government, schools…austerity is the word of the day right now. I’ve had two straight jobs cut in academia due to budgetary cutbacks (despite exemplary performance reviews), so I can vouch for the idea that at least some jobs funded by public money are actually very LOW security right now.

Sorry Chris, I feel badly for your friends but many people that work for the government don’t do very much that can be considered truely useful. They may be busy but many are not productive. In the department you described, probably only 2 or 3 out of the 7 are actually doing much. Governments just about everywhere are terribly bloated. Very often when the government lets people go, they then go out and hire “consultants” to replace them while saying that they have trimmed the number of employees.

Let’s be honest, Mustang. Most people who work in any position don’t particularly do much that can be considered truly useful.

That is one of the rewards for being such a technologically advanced society. I have a satirical demotivational poster on my desk. The tag-line is “If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, then you probably have a pretty easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon.”

That’s pretty true of many jobs outside of the service industry.

As for the office you are referring to, you would be wrong, and this is the problem with making sweeping generalizations. That particular office was assessed by government as being staffed at about 50% of the level deemed to be acceptable, and most of them are working 60 hour weeks trying to fill in for the lack of hires. I’m not saying the field to protect anonymity, but let’s just say that it is a rather important one to society as a whole.

But you are correct about the consultant thing. And doesn’t that sort of counter your own point? If the job they were doing was not necessary, why turn around and contract it right back to those people, usually at even higher costs (anywhere from 25-50%, in my experience)?

Every workplace has dead weight, and the civil service is really no different. I can acknowledge that the salaries are probably too high and the pensions are certainly too generous, but I also think that many private sector salaries are absolutely ludicrous. It’s the Danish side of my ancestry…I was brought up in a Law of Jante culture.

Chris, the site won’t let me reply to your last post so I am doing it here. This would be a great discussion face-to-face. I will concede that you have some valid points and let it go at that. However, I continue to stand by my position that governments are very bloated with far too many people that don’t do very much. I have dealt with government departments 9both for business and personal reasons)where most of the quality employees have quit or moved on and have been replaced with people that do not have a clue.

Chris, I know about Ottawa very well, and feel sorry for their location in relation to Montreal and Toronto.

I also love the fact that people in the Ottawa Valley and thereabouts (Perth, Arnprior, Smith Falls, Renfrew, etc) have a real team to cheer for, and the last time I was in Carleton Place, I had to smile at all the signed Sens photos and jerseys in the pub I was having a pint in.

I also HATE Scotiabank Place’s location. Who was the genius that came up with that brainwave?! Half the fun of going to a game is GOING to a game, with people in jerseys, makeup, in costumes, etc on the Metro, walking through the streets, pre-game drinking in the pubs and bars…

I guess my disappointment is that it kind of sums up the kind of uninspired, ill-informed, by-committee decision-making that plagues government bureaucracy.

I have friends in the civil service too, and they’re on tenterhooks as well.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again cuz it’s too freakin’ funny and it’s looking better BUT if the Phoenix Coyotes win the Stanley Cup and then move to Quebec, it’ll be such a kick in the gut to that city’s fans to be on the bookends of Cup celebration since the Nordiques as the Avalanche won in their first year away.

Kinda like if you were dating Angelina Jolie and she declared upon getting together with you that she was a born-again virgin and saving herself ’til you’re married and then busts off with you before the wedding and shags the first guy she sees after realising the folly of her ways.

It’d look good on ya, Nordiqueheads

_______________________________________
Calling it like it is:
Jack Edwards is a clam.
The Bruins and their fans are gutless weasel pukes.

Appears Ilitch gave Nill his blessing to leave if he wanted to, but Nill felt the timing wasn’t right. Interesting that the RedWings reportedly wouldn’t let Nill go to Toronto when they were looking for a GM. Perhaps Jim is waiting one year for the Toronto GM job.

Some reactions to the article in the comments. Some Redwing fans are definitely not happy.

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how much longer, are, we the fans, have to put up with the medicore GM and assistant gm? 3 years in a row AND NOTHING TO SHOW FOR ITexcept early golf times

s this good news? I was hoping he would take the Montreal job. He is the chief architect of all of these small mediocre forwards that we are stuck with. Now we have acquired Chelios, Maltby, Draper, and Jiri Fischer as scouts?
What has Jim an Ken been doing while the whole league has gotten bigger and faster?
Illititch stop the charity line, your a nice guy but you don’t owe everyone that “lingers” with the organization a job.

Jennifer’s father was a prof for my brother at Univ. of Wpg. and was very involved in the athletic program there. My brother spent quite a bit of time with Cal when he was playing for U of W VOlleyball team. The guy is extremely bright and a great guy. No surprise his daughter became the person she is.

She has got to earn the position, spend time with scouting, contract negotiations, employee hiring and dismissal, etc. Besides, the old boy’s club mentality is entrenched in sports. Look at the firestorm over Cunneyworth’s appointment as interim HC.

Her brother Jason Botterill earned an economics degree from the University of Michigan during his four year tenure there, a time where he also was part of three gold medal winning World Junior Championship teams. He then spent time as an intern in the NHL offices and then a year as an amateur scout for the Dallas Stars, all the while working on completing his MBA at the University of Michigan.

He was then hired by the Pittsburgh Penguins as a director of hockey operations, where he monitored the salary cap, researched contracts and was involved in the negotiation process, continued to scout and worked on preparing the team’s case for salary arbitration cases. After two years in that role, Jason Boterill was then promoted to assistant general manager.

So Jason did enjoy a rapid rise to his current spot, but he was not hired directly into an assistant GM position, let along a general manager position. In fact, his resume is significantly deeper than that of his sister, contrary to J.T.’s assertion, although I will at least oblige by granting that Jennifer’s success as a standout in women’s hockey surpasses the on-ice successes of her brother in men’s hockey.

I would not at all be against the hiring of someone like Jennifer Boterill, as she is smart, articulate and understands the game.

But I absolutely detest dismissals of other people’s paths to get where they got. Like or not, NHL players do have a leg up on European players or women when it comes to connections within the game. They know the agents, they know the general managers and the coaches and, in many cases, they know the scouts.

I absolutely think that professional sports teams need to be more proactive about hiring women into management positions, but it should be to entry level positions first so that they can work themselves up the chain.

I don’t want to see the Habs hire somebody like Vincent Damphousse because I think he lacks relevant experience despite his years working within the NHL Player’s Association. So I would be a hypocrite if I said that the Habs should hire Jennifer Boterill into anything higher than a scout or a junior management position.

Matty I know you are using your sarcasm, but the results of the draft picks Chicago received are undeniable. Having said that, the architect of that team was turfed out, and the next great one Stan Bowman came in to reap the reward. Problem is his inexperience has shown, as look at the choices he made when it came time to shave the payroll on that team. Many poor choices were made.

But to get Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews with high draft picks was not the problem.

I know, I’m being deliberately inflammatory.
But at the same time, the same people who were promoting finishing last as being the ultimate way forward tend to be the same ‘hard-liners’ who say things like ‘nothing but the cup is enough.’

Both Chicago and Pittsburgh have long histories as cellar-dwellers, and both teams have exactly one cup to show for their failure, plus a 1st round exit this year.

Without finishing last, we managed first-round exits, and much, much better than that. But we’re told time and time again that a top pick will make us significantly better. Pitt and Chi haven’t shown that.

As for mismanagement; it’s true about Chicago, but mismanagement is part of hockey!

Didn’t Chicago win the Stanley cup 2 years ago? Last I checked we haven’t even been to a final in 20 years. With the parity that there is in the league today there are no dynasties. It is hard for a team to consistently go far in the playoffs.

Detroit is probably the closest thing there is to a dynasty having won 4 cups in the last 20 years and they just got knocked out of the playoffs in the 2nd and 1st round in the last two years. The pens have only won 1 playoff series since going to back to back finals. I’m not saying the habs should tank but don’t pretend that tanking didn’t get Chicago a Stanley cup.

It is not the only example of success. Both teams have been very good in the regular season since they rebuilt. The Pens have not finished lower than 5th since 06 and have had over 100 points in every season except 1. Since 07 the Hawks have had 3 seasons over 100 points and their lowest point total is 97 points. That sounds pretty consistent to me.

Pittsburgh and Chicago aren’t the only 2 good teams in the league. There are other ways to build a good team. Can’t expect them to always be in conference finals. I am not saying that tanking is the only way to build a contender but you can’t deny that both Chicago and Pittsburgh have been great teams. When was the last time we could go into a season and expect to finish with 100+ points and a top 5 finish in our conference? Pittsburgh can do that.

That is exactly what I am saying. Times are different now I think success is measured more in consistent top 5 finishes or 100 point seasons along with the occasional deep playoff run and stanley cup. Hopefully the new management team can assemble a group of players that is capable of doing that. I don’t think there is a need to finish in the cellar for 2-3 years. We are getting a top 3 pick this year and have 5 second round picks in the next two drafts. Add to that the fact that there is some promising junior talent moving up to the AHL next year (Tinordi, Beaulieu, Gallagher, Ellis etc.) The habs could have a very solid team in 2-3 years.

Thanks for the link. Tons of potential in Malcolm, one of those cliche statements applicable to any talented eighteen year old, but because of the successful family he comes from, there is extra interest and intrigue. Trailblazer Pernell Karl played in the World Junior Championships and we will see if Malcolm and then Jordan will follow suit.

On the matter of athleticism in goalies, I think Fleury is the most athletic among the 22 or so playoff goalies (backups Halak, Luongo, Clemmensen, Hedberg, Bobrovsky, Johnson have had playing time) and he is a clear example where the intellectual part (proper positioning, staying upright once in a blue moon, using the poke check, etc.) is probably at least as important to succcess in this position. Posters, feel free to add to the backups list if I left someone off.
“May you live in interesting times.”

Ansar Khan of MLive.com is quoting Nill as saying hes talked to Habs twice and had great talks. They (habs) were interested and he was interested
But unfortunately it was not the right time.
Sounds to me like Wings didn’t give permission and he’s not happy about it. If true.
Good morning all.
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It is my understanding the Red Wings gave Nill a really nice contract for an Asst. GM, very similar in pay structure to that of a General Manager. As a result of this contract there is essentially a No Trade/Movement clause in it. Therefore team must be willing to let him go, which they don’t want to. Most Asst. GM’s don’t have this contract and typically are free to move if it is a promotion as opposed to a lateral move.

There are various posters who have stated things pro and con regarding Nill. I am undecided on whether or not he would be the right GM for Montreal.

One thing forsure however, there seems to be a very wide net cast in this GM search, this makes me happy, compared to the 2min. search to find PG as our last GM.

Oh I got a feeling with some of the ‘least exciting’ teams with small fan bases going through the 2nd round, NY will get a similar push to when they bounced the 94 Nordiques. Game 6 was a sham, game 7 will be a sham as well if the sens keep it close or are threatening to win.

[Disclaimer]: I’m a hockey fan. I care about the habs, but probably not as much as you.